Exploring Ideas Together

IBM InterConnect 2017: Day 4

Session 1: z/OS Panel Discussion

Third parties can now interface with other types of data. Rocket Data Virtualization is now available as another add-on for z/OS Connect. Current list is CICS, IMS, DB2, MQ, WAS, RDV (for VSAM, and other databases), and batch.

z/OS Provisioning Toolkit is being used to bring up z/OS Connect very quickly.

DB2 Stored Procedures can be exposed this way too.

Batch is providing API calls as well (Executes batch program or pauses and waits for the API call). Check Git repo for documents on how to connect to batch and provide examples.

There is tremendous momentum in this space and for this product.

Cuts cost due to the simplicity and ability of a direct connection to the mainframe without building extra infrastructure and software.

CICS Web Services has much more overhead and isn’t as ubiquitous as API calls. Can be done in as little as 30 minutes to setup an API.

There is an ability to do an “API Shack”, which is when IBM comes in and sits down with developers and system programmers to get a POC (proof of concept) together. Nationwide had a POC up and running in 2 days for Apple Pay.

There are opportunities to remove MQ from an equation, but it since REST is stateless its complementary. REST is not guaranteed delivery.

Developers should never know where the data is coming from (DB2, batch, whatever).

There are some dependencies for z/OS Connect. Some features need CICS 5.3 and up and MQ 9 and up.

Session 2: How to Develop New Insights into Your z Systems Data

zOI (z Systems Operational Insights)

Relatively new space that allows z System insights from an application on BlueMix.

Splunk and Operational Insights have a partnership with Splunk to be able to ship data into Splunk after crunching the data.

Session 3: Essentials for Java on z Systems

Can directly call DB2 and MQ in memory now.

This is the desired list to be supported for JEE7.

Session 4: Installing and Configuring GDPS: How JN Data Customized DR Testing in a Production Environment